


Chromatism

by glamaphonic



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Backstory, Canon Character of Color, Character Study, Community: 31_days, Female Character of Color, Gen, POV Character of Color, POV Female Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-11-20
Updated: 2009-11-20
Packaged: 2017-10-03 11:45:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 223
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glamaphonic/pseuds/glamaphonic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ty Lee is soiled and unclean and bursting with color.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Chromatism

**Author's Note:**

> For 31_days. October 5th: rejected goods.

  
_You understand why we have to do this, Ty Lee,_ her mother says as her father refuses to look at her.

Ty Lee is soiled and unclean and bursting with color. She nods and bends her face into a smile, flexes her fingers, and feels energy build at the base of her spine.

When she slips out of her bedroom window her red silk sheets slide through her hands just as smoothly as: thick black ink from her brush onto paper, drawing the characters of Mai’s name; sweet, chilled plum wine down her pink, pink throat on hot, hot days of summer; the headmaster’s son’s voice into her ear and her brown ankles locked at the small of his back.

_I need you with me, Ty Lee,_ Azula says, disagreeing with the circus and the universe that sent Ty Lee there. Ty Lee opens her eyes wide so the whites are showing and laughs agreeably, displaying her teeth. Azula versus the universe and Ty Lee knows not to hedge her bets. Azula’s concerns, at least, are all about function; Ty Lee long ago had her fill of clashing aesthetics.

When she walks through the gates of the capital it is summer again. She is a hero now, washed clean and pristine.

She avoids her parents and looks, instead, for pigments that will stain.


End file.
